How to sell on Amazon marketplace: A complete guide for sellers

Amazon draws roughly 2.7 billion visits every month, more than any other eCommerce site in the world, and each one represents a potential customer for sellers with a listing live on the platform.

This guide covers how to sell on Amazon marketplace, from setting up a seller account to managing fees and fulfillment.

Key takeaways

• Merchants can start selling on the Amazon marketplace with either an Individual or Professional account, depending on planned volume.

• Amazon charges a referral fee on every sale, plus other fees like closing costs and FBA fulfillment, so these belong in any business plan before pricing a product.

• A government-issued ID, bank account, and tax information are the only requirements to open a seller account and publish an Amazon product listing.

• Beyond Fulfillment by Amazon, sellers can choose fulfillment by merchant or print-on-demand suppliers like Printful, each with different shipping options and fulfillment fees.

• Selling with Amazon works alongside an existing online business or personal website, adding a sales channel plus optional services like Brand Registry and Amazon Ads.

Why sell on Amazon marketplace

Amazon no longer sells only its own inventory. Independent sellers accounted for more than 60% of items sold on the platform, and in 2025, more than 75,000 independent sellers surpassed $1 million in sales, with US sellers averaging more than $375,000 in annual sales.

Sellers who already run their own website can list the same product on Amazon to reach a separate pool of Amazon shoppers, without giving up their existing store. Many businesses treat Amazon as one sales channel among several rather than a replacement for a website they’ve already built.

Amazon Seller University, Amazon’s free training hub inside Seller Central, walks new sellers through account setup, listing creation, and advertising basics. Both Individual and Professional accounts get access to it.

Setting up your Amazon seller account

Two decisions come first when you are learning how to become an Amazon seller: which selling plan to pick, and what to have ready when registering.

Individual vs. professional Amazon seller account

Amazon offers two selling plans, and the right one depends on sales volume.

• The individual selling plan charges $0.99 per item sold, with no monthly fee. It suits sellers testing a new product or moving fewer than 40 items a month, since there’s no ongoing cost during slow months. An individual account can’t access advertising tools, bulk listing uploads, or restricted categories such as consumer electronics.

• The professional account costs a flat $39.99 a month regardless of sales volume, and it unlocks Buy Box eligibility, Amazon Ads, bulk listing tools, and access to gated categories. Once a seller crosses roughly 40 sales a month, the professional account typically costs less than the per-item fees on the individual plan, and it opens the advanced tools serious sellers need to compete.

Small businesses just getting started often begin with an individual account and switch once volume picks up. Switching plans inside Seller Central takes only a few minutes.

How to create an Amazon seller account

Opening a selling account is a fairly straightforward process, though it does require some documentation upfront. To register, sellers need:

• A government-issued ID (passport or driver’s license)

• A bank account and routing number for payouts

• Tax information (a Social Security number for individuals or an EIN for a registered business)

• A valid phone number and email address

• An internationally chargeable credit card for subscription and referral fees

Most applications get approved within one to three business days, though business accounts requiring manual document review can take longer. Once approved, sellers gain access to Amazon Seller Central, where they manage inventory, track orders, and monitor account health.

Tip:

Not sure Amazon is the only marketplace worth exploring? Print on Demand lets a seller launch products across Amazon, a personal store, and other sales channels, all from the same product catalog, without holding inventory anywhere.

Amazon fees and fulfillment

Together, Amazon fees and the chosen fulfillment method determine how much of each sale a seller actually keeps.

Understanding Amazon seller fees

Amazon charges several types of fees, each applied at a different point in the sale.

• Referral fees apply to every sale regardless of selling plan or fulfillment method. Rates range from 8% to 15% for most categories, though specialty categories run as high as 45%. A minimum referral fee of $0.30 per unit applies in most categories, which matters most on very low-priced items.

• Closing fees apply only to media categories like books, music, and video, adding a flat charge of roughly $1.80 per unit on top of the referral fee.

• Fulfillment fees apply to sellers using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), based on the size and weight of each product, and cover picking, packing, and shipping from an Amazon warehouse.

• Customer returns carry their own cost. When a buyer returns an item, Amazon refunds part of the referral fee but keeps a portion, generally the lesser of $5 per unit or 20% of the original referral fee.

Add these up and total fees on a typical sale often land between 30% and 45% of the sale price before advertising costs.

Fulfillment options: FBA, FBM, and dropshipping suppliers

Sellers choose between three main fulfillment methods once a listing goes live:

• Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) means sending inventory to an Amazon warehouse, where Amazon handles picking, packing, shipping, and customer returns. It qualifies products for Prime shipping, which many Amazon shoppers filter for specifically, though it adds fulfillment and storage fees.

• Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM), sometimes called self-fulfillment, means a seller manages storage and shipping directly. It avoids FBA fees but shifts on-time shipping and customer service onto the seller.

• Dropshipping suppliers ship products directly to the customer on a seller’s behalf, without the seller holding any physical inventory. Amazon’s Dropshipping Policy permits this fulfillment method as long as the seller remains the seller of record, appears as the seller on all packing slips and invoices, and handles returns directly. Buying from another retailer and having that retailer ship straight to the customer under its own branding violates Amazon’s policy, so the supplier relationship matters as much as the product itself.

Print-on-demand services like Printful operate as compliant dropshipping suppliers: products ship under the seller’s brand, with no Printful branding visible to the buyer, and the seller keeps full control of pricing, product pages, and customer communication.

Tip:

See the full step-by-step walkthrough for connecting Printful to an Amazon store in How to sell on Amazon with Printful’s integration.

Creating and optimizing Amazon listings

Once an account and fulfillment method are in place, the next job is building product pages that actually make potential customers into buyers.

What goes into a strong Amazon listing

• Product titles should include the brand name, product type, key attributes, and any variation details like size or color. Amazon’s search function relies heavily on the terms sellers put in the title and backend search fields, so vague titles get buried under competitors selling the same product.

• Product details and bullet points give Amazon shoppers the specifics they scan for before adding an item to cart: materials, dimensions, care instructions, and anything else that reduces uncertainty about the purchase.

• Product identifiers trip up a lot of new sellers with custom or made-to-order products. Amazon typically requires a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) for new listings, but sellers offering products with no existing manufacturer barcode, including most Print on Demand items, can apply for a GTIN exemption directly in Seller Central.

• Product photos matter across every product category. Amazon recommends at least one image on a pure white background, plus several additional angles that show the product in context.

Sellers with existing products on other sales channels can usually reuse the same photography and copy on Amazon, with minor adjustments to match Amazon’s specific formatting rules.

Amazon Brand Registry and advanced tools

Sellers with a registered or pending trademark can enroll in Amazon Brand Registry at no cost. It unlocks a set of advanced tools unavailable to standard seller accounts, including:

• A+ Content for richer product pages

• Amazon Stores for a dedicated brand storefront

• Experiments tool, which lets sellers A/B test titles, images, and content to see which version drives more branded sales.

Brand Registry also gives sellers stronger recourse against counterfeit listings and unauthorized use of their brand name, which matters more as a store’s catalog and reputation grow.

It’s an optional service, not a requirement for selling on Amazon, but it becomes worth the trademark investment once branded sales reach a consistent, meaningful volume each month.

Selling print-on-demand products on Amazon with Printful

Printful’s free Amazon integration lets sellers publish print-on-demand listings directly to an existing Amazon store without managing inventory, production, or shipping.

Tip:

Ready to connect an Amazon store? Set up the Printful Amazon integration and start publishing designs in minutes.

Getting started takes a few steps. First, create or use an existing Amazon seller account on the Professional plan, since Amazon requires API access that only Professional accounts have. Next, request a GTIN exemption for each product category, a process that usually takes about 48 hours for Amazon to review.

Once approved, connect the Amazon integration inside the Printful Dashboard and select the marketplaces to sell in. From there, use Printful’s Design Maker to build product listings, choosing colors, sizes, and pricing for each design. Printful pushes finished listings straight to the connected Amazon store.

After a listing goes live, Printful prints and ships each order automatically once a customer buys, with no extra work required to manage inventory or production between platforms.

Tips to drive traffic and boost sales on Amazon

A few practices consistently help a listing surface and convert for sellers competing across a crowded product category.

• Optimize for search. Amazon’s search algorithm rewards titles and backend keywords that match what Amazon shoppers actually type into the search bar. Filling out every relevant search term field gives a listing more chances to surface in results.

• Collect reviews. Amazon automatically emails buyers requesting a review after delivery, so consistent product quality and responsive customer service do most of the heavy lifting here. Listings with strong reviews convert noticeably better than similar listings without them.

• Invest in Amazon Ads. Sponsored Products campaigns put a listing in front of buyers actively searching for that product category, which matters most for new listings without an established sales history yet.

• Protect on-time shipping metrics. Late shipments hurt account health scores and Buy Box eligibility. Sellers using Fulfillment by Amazon or a reliable print-on-demand partner avoid most shipping-related penalties by design, since the fulfillment method handles timing automatically.